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Which benefits you are eligible for depends on how long you have been ill, your age, whether you have paid any national insurance (NI) contributions, and whether you need personal care or have mobility difficulties. Once you have recovered, you may be able to get universal credit (UC) until you can return to your course.
You usually still count as a full-time student when taking time out of your course, unless you have completely abandoned or been dismissed from it (but see here for when this may not apply).1
If you have paid sufficient NI contributions in recent years, you are eligible for new-style employment and support allowance (ESA) after seven ‘waiting days’ (see Chapter 4).
You can claim adult disability payment (ADP) if you need help getting around or with daily living activities because of a disability. You are eligible for this after 13 weeks if your disability is likely to last at least another 39 weeks.
You can claim UC if you get ADP or child disability payment (CDP) and had limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) before you started receiving education (see here). This means a determination that you have LCW/LCWRA for UC or new-style ESA or that you are treated as having LCW/LCWRA for UC. You can claim new-style ESA in order to establish that you have LCW/LCWRA (although you do not have to get any ESA to qualify in this way). Once you are found to have LCW/LCWRA for ESA (and you also get ADP or CDP), you are then eligible for UC as long as you had or were treated as having LCW/LCWRA before you started receiving education. These rules mean that if you first become ill while on your course (while receiving education), then you cannot get UC on this basis while on that course.
Once you have had LCW for 28 weeks, you can claim HB to help with your rent (if you can make a new claim for this - see here).
The 28-week period runs from the day your LCW begins, not from the day you leave your course. See here for how LCW is assessed. You do not need to have been working to count as having LCW. Note: you can have LCW but still be able to study, so HB can continue when you return to college or university.
Sean is ill and takes time out of his course. He is not eligible for ADP, and he has not worked enough to qualify for new-style ESA. He gets no benefits until he has been ill for 28 weeks, when he can claim HB (he can make a new claim for HB because he lives in temporary accommodation, and he is eligible because he is an ill/disabled student). He makes a claim for ESA, supported by a backdated medical certificate, in order to establish his LCW, and he also fills in a claim form for HB.
Once you have recovered, you may need to wait some time to be readmitted to your course. During this time you can claim UC (or HB if you can make a new claim – see here).2
You can claim for up to one year from the day you recover until the day the college or university agrees you can return to your course. You are not eligible if you get a grant or loan during this time. Once the student support stops, you can claim benefit.
If you meet the qualifying conditions for new-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), and are not eligible for a student loan or grant, you can claim this while waiting to return to your course (see here).
Although payment of your student loan can be suspended after 60 days’ absence because of ill health, Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) has the discretion to continue to pay you until the end of the academic year.
Your college or university should tell SAAS the reason you have suspended your studies.
If you need to repeat a year for health reasons, discretionary repeat-year funding may be available. Alternatively, you may get funding for one extra year for whatever reason, although this depends on your previous study.
If you select the repeat-year funding box on your application, SAAS contacts you to tell you if it needs additional information.
If you take time out from your course because of ill health and are not paid a student loan during this time, the unpaid student loan is arguably not counted as notional income for UC and HB, because payment of it is discretionary.
If you are a part-time student (and do not count as receiving education for UC – see here), you can claim UC as soon as you are ill or disabled, whether or not you get ADP or CDP. You should submit a fit note when you claim.
If you are already getting UC, you can submit a fit note if you become ill or disabled.
You can claim new-style ESA if you have paid sufficient NI contributions.
You can claim ADP if you need help getting around or with daily living activities because of a disability. You are eligible for this after 13 weeks if your disability is likely to last at least another 39 weeks.
You can claim UC (or, sometimes, new-style JSA - see here).
There is no provision for pregnant full-time students to claim universal credit (UC) or housing benefit.
If you are a part-time student, you can get UC and you will have no work-related requirements from 11 weeks before your expected week of childbirth.
If you have an employer, you may be able to get statutory maternity pay. If you are not working now but have worked recently, you may be able to get maternity allowance.
Once the baby is born, there are various benefits you can claim. You can also get a ‘baby box’ from the Scottish government, containing basic items for a newborn baby.1
Paramedic, nursing and midwifery students can continue to receive their bursary for a period of up to 45 weeks’ maternity leave.
Once the baby is born, if you are a lone parent studying full time you can claim:
If your partner has had a baby and you have an employer, you may be able to claim statutory paternity pay. You can claim if you are the child’s father or the mother’s partner and you will be caring for the baby or the mother. You may also be able to claim statutory shared parental pay.
Throughout the course, including in the summer vacation, a full-time student couple (ie, both partners are students) with a child can claim:
Couples can also claim a Best Start grant if one partner gets a qualifying benefit (see here).
If you are a full-time student, you cannot claim universal credit (UC) while you are looking after someone who is ill or disabled. You may be able to claim carer support payment (CSP – see here).
Part-time students can claim UC and, usually, CSP (see here).
If you are a full-time student, you may have to stop your course while you are caring. If you have to wait to return to it once your caring responsibilities have ended, you can claim UC. You can claim for up to a year until the day from when your institution agrees you can return to your course. You are not eligible if you get a grant or loan during this time. You can also claim new-style jobseeker’s allowance if you meet the contribution conditions.
Students aged 16–19 can apply for a young carer grant (see here).
If you are a full-time student taking time out to re-sit exams, you are still treated as a student during your absence from the course. You cannot claim universal credit (UC) during this time, unless you would be eligible anyway as a student – eg, as a parent. However, if you are taking professional qualifications set by a professional institute or some other body unconnected to your own college or university, you may be able to claim UC while taking time out for re-sits. You may need to appeal and argue that caselaw supports your getting benefit.1
If your university allows you to ‘register with attendance’, you may be able to get a student loan and grant for living costs from Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) during a re-sit year. Registering with attendance means you are registered as a full-time student, but you attend your course on a part-time basis for a year. SAAS does not pay your tuition fees or give you a bursary. If you are eligible for benefit, you may be better off being in ‘academic suspension’ for the year: you cannot get a loan, but you can claim UC (if you are a student who can get UC).
Check whether you can get help from the Carnegie Education Fund for tuition fees if SAAS is not paying them (see here).
Note: you also continue to count as a full-time student if you are on a modular course and are doing re-sits or completing a module after the official end date of your course.2
If you take time out of your course for another reason, you usually still count as a full-time student, with no additional entitlement to benefits during your time out. However, if you are on a modular course and take a full year (or more) out of the course, you may no longer count as a student and may therefore be able to claim universal credit under the normal (non-student) rules.1
RVS v SSWP (ESA) [2019] UKUT 102 (AAC)
The following books are available from CPAG, 30 Micawber Street, London N1 7TB, Tel: 020 7837 7979. You can also order online, and find details of CPAG’s other handbooks and online subscription services, and details of the prices for members at cpag.org.uk/shop.
Welfare Benefits Handbook (published annually in April)
Digital+ (CPAG’s full digital package which includes the full text of the Welfare Benefits Handbook online and updated throughout the year, the Benefits for Migrants Handbook, the Welfare Rights Bulletin and decision-making tools and appeal letter generators): see cpag.org.uk/subscriptions for details.
Benefit Rates Poster
Universal Credit: what you need to know
Council Tax Handbook
Fuel Rights Handbook
Mental Health and Benefits Handbook
Children’s Handbook Scotland (free online at cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights)
Disability Rights Handbook (published by Disability Rights UK)
Debt Advice Handbook Scotland (free online at cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights)
The following guidance, used by decision makers in the DWP and local authorities, is available at gov.uk. It has no legal standing, so you cannot quote it in an appeal, but it can be useful to refer decision makers to it if you want a decision overturned by an internal revision or supersession.
Advice for Decision Making (for universal credit and other benefits introduced from April 2013)
Decision Makers’ Guide
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Guidance Manual
Social Security Scotland benefits guidance is available at socialsecurity.gov.scot/guidance-resources/guidance
UK legislation
All the legislation listed in Appendix 3 can be found at legislation.gov.uk. Most is updated.
Social Security Legislation, Volumes 1 to 4
Published by Sweet and Maxwell, these volumes contain updated Acts and regulations covering social security with explanatory commentary. They are available from CPAG.
CPAG’s Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction Legislation
Published by CPAG, this contains updated Acts and regulations and a detailed commentary.
Decisions of the Upper Tribunal
Reported and unreported decisions are available from gov.uk/administrative-appeals-tribunal-decisions.
Scottish Upper Tribunal decisions are at scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/upper-tribunal-decisions.
